[1] Setting the Stage

Kurokawa Kazuya let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the completed manga manuscript for the second part of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" in front of him.

"The first part of the manga was 'JoJo,' and I couldn't be luckier."

Kurokawa Kazuya whispered.

Kurokawa Kazuya's original identity was no longer important, but in any case, he was a traveler who had turned eighteen this year. He had dropped out of school... not by choice, but because his original self had dropped out several years before he arrived in this world. He had been living off a huge inheritance left by his parents, occasionally going out to work to secure his future.

The reason for dropping out was purely due to his lack of academic prowess, nothing worth mentioning.

He had the classic protagonist setup of being an orphan with a car, a house, and a little sister. A traveler, without parents, and with a little sister – except for not having a tragic backstory, wasn't this the standard protagonist setup?

In reality, he felt that the reason he had been given this identity was because it would have been troublesome to include his parents' background in the story, so the person responsible for sending him here had arranged this identity for him. The reason for having a little sister was probably because it's better to have someone to interact with rather than being alone, and compared to having a younger or older brother, having a sister was more preferable. The former might raise questions about his sexual orientation, and the latter would just make him a shut-in.

There were no particularly significant people around him, so there was no need for special explanations.

After arriving in this world, he acquired a [Mangaka System]. After completing a manga, there was a chance to gain the abilities of a character from within the manga – or at least that's how it appeared, as he had only completed his first manga and was still in the middle of serialization, so the details were unclear.

And then –

The first manga he obtained was "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" Parts One through Eight! The entire first seven parts and part of the eighth part.

As his favorite manga from his previous life, there was no comparison. To obtain this manga from the very beginning, he felt incredibly lucky. He even thought that even if the system hadn't given him this manga, he would one day draw this epic celebration of humanity with his own pen!

And now, he had it right from the start. Could there be anything luckier than this?

The current year was 1984, one year had passed since he arrived in this world, and he had become a somewhat recognized mangaka.

He initially gained recognition with a short manga called "Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move" under his real name, Kurokawa Kazuya, which was a runner-up for the 1983 Tezuka Award. Although it wasn't selected as the winner, it was considered a decent work among the five selected at the time.

Soon after, his "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" obtained the official serialization qualification and began serializing in JUMP. Though there were some twists along the way, the editorial team strongly disapproved of featuring a foreigner as the main character, they eventually accepted it...

"Well, it's all thanks to 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure' being the first manga I drew."

Since he initially drew "Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move" which was essentially a spin-off of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" featuring its characters, even though it was a short piece, he still managed to complete a manga. He quickly gained the abilities of characters from that manga.

He hadn't gained any combat abilities like Stands, just the manga abilities.

At the moment, he didn't possess any special powers.

But he had the manga drawing ability of Rohan Kishibe.

He had seen how challenging creating manga was from watching "Bakuman" in his previous life, especially observing the live drawing sessions of someone named Yusuke Murata for "One Punch Man." He knew it could be demanding, and even if he could see the progress ahead of time, it was clear that being a mangaka was tough.

Yusuke Murata's manga drawing live sessions often ended up with him unexpectedly falling asleep.

It was obvious that he was overworked.

The same happened when he drew "Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move" especially since he was a complete beginner at the time. It took him over a month to complete that short piece.

During the process, he only slept for about five to six hours a day, spending the rest of his time revising and editing. After finishing one draft, he would redraw it from memory, but it was still filled with mistakes. He couldn't even complete one draft in a day, and he got so frustrated that he threw his pen a few times.

Despite all this, after he submitted it to JUMP, it received praise for having a good story but rough artwork. It was a surprise to him that he even made it as a runner-up, as he had initially thought it would only be a decent work.

However, everything changed dramatically after gaining the manga abilities of Rohan Kishibe.

For those unfamiliar with "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," it was essential to mention that Rohan Kishibe had the incredible ability to turn a blank piece of paper into a finished manga manuscript in just ten minutes, without the need for assistants. What he produced wasn't a rough draft but a complete manuscript.

The entire process took just ten minutes!

In other words, as long as he had the inspiration and the composition ready in his mind, he could easily complete six manuscript pages in one hour of uninterrupted work –

Absolutely superhuman –

And now he possessed this superhuman skill.

This was why, while "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood" was still ongoing, he had already finished illustrating the battle trend of the second part!

This ability was truly fantastic! Incredibly fantastic!

Every time Kurokawa Kazuya thought back to the hellish beginning when he first started drawing manga, he felt like he was in heaven now – succeeding on the first try was fantastic, gaining this ability was fantastic. He sincerely appreciated it.

"Well, what should I draw next... Should I finish 'JoJo' first, or should I create an original manga...?" Kurokawa Kazuya pondered when he was bored.

Anyway, since he could complete a manuscript in ten minutes, creating an original work might be more challenging because he'd have to think about composition and plot. But with "JoJo," he already had the entire story in his mind, so drawing it would be faster.

Now, let's talk about the current situation in this world.

As far as he knew, this world didn't have any anomalies or superpowers. At least, he hadn't found any so far.

Although he now lived in a place called Morioh Town, and there were cities like Fuyuki City and Mifune City on the map, as well as places like Mitakihara, this was still a peaceful world.

Because he had visited Fuyuki City and Mifune City.

He had visited the Tohsaka family, and they didn't seem like a family of magus at all. He had seen Tohsaka Rin, who was over a year old, and Tohsaka Sakura, who was only a few months old. Both were cute. Tohsaka Tokiomi had even given him a taste of the noble lifestyle.

It seemed like a good setting for creating stories.

He had also visited Ryougi Familiy, where he had seen Shiki Ryougi, who was four or five years old. They appeared to be a family of ancient warriors but were surprisingly hospitable. He mentioned that he was a mangaka gathering material, and they didn't chase him away or ignore him because he wasn't famous. Overall, it felt good.

Though he hadn't investigated Morioh Town or Mitakihara due to the time difference, he was well aware of an incident that occurred in Morioh Town in 1983 from the entirety of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure."

That incident was the murder of Reimi Sugimoto by Yoshikage Kira.

He had indeed found the Sugimoto family, and as of 1984, they were still living well.

As for the a certain Street of No Return in Morioh Town, he had found it too. It wasn't on the map, but it was just like that. The intersection was cluttered with too many things, not very conspicuous, and had a small entrance, which was probably why it wasn't on the map, or maybe it was intentionally left out.

He didn't lure anyone or try it himself.

After all, it was better not to commit murder. If he tried it himself, and it turned out that the street really couldn't be turned back, he would be in deep trouble.

So, he often observed it from a distance.

Once, when he passed by naturally, he didn't look back, but a person beside him turned back casually because someone had called them from behind.

And... nothing happened.

That person didn't die at all; they were still alive.

After that, he was quite certain that nothing would happen in this world. This world was just an ordinary, everyday world. He began to firmly believe this.

"By the way, Illya's birthdate is earlier than Shirou Emiya's... and Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka were born around the same time, probably in 1982. So... was Illya born in 1981 or 1980?"

He couldn't remember these details.

He knew Rin Tohsaka's birthday because it was casually mentioned when he asked about her cute daughter. Tohsaka Tokiomi had told him that.

As for the system and whether he was someone's pawn, he had thought about it.

However, he couldn't find answers to these questions, and at this point, it didn't matter.

Even if he was a pawn in someone else's game, what did it matter? He was living better than before, with no one restricting him. In the future, he might even live longer thanks to his abilities. If being a pawn meant being treated like this, then please, by all means, keep him as a pawn.

"Anyway, let's go gather some material. As for everything above... you can take it as setting the premise for this novel, or you can see it as my delusions and a summary of the past year. Currently, besides having the ability to draw manga quickly, I'm just a completely ordinary person with no combat abilities. Well... if I had to count, does throwing a pen count? I'm quite good at throwing it accurately within about five meters. In any case, this is my current situation, and I am the protagonist of this novel, Kurokawa Kazuya. I look forward to our time together in the future."

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